Display rack



Jan. 6, 1942.

w. E. DEMME, 2,268,927

DISPLAY RACK Filed July 5, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR William E. Damme BY W ATTQ Y Jan. 6, 1942. w. E. DEMME I I 2,268,927

DISPLAY RACK Filed July 5, 1958 2 Shets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR William E. Demme ATT ed in.

Patented Jan. 6, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DISPLAY RACK I William E. Dernme, Portland, Oreg. Application July 5, 1938, Serial No. 217,424 6 Claims. -.(o1. 2 11 45) My invention relates to improvement in display backs. v

My invention is comprised of two upright trunnion supported side rails with pairs of inclined slots disposed within the inner face of each of the side rails. ment at its opposite ends within the respective inclined slots, and a locking head is provided for each of the shafts, the same being used for securing the sheet to be displayed to the rod.

A second rod and locking head is disposed at the bottom end of the sheetwith the second rod being shorter than the firstin order that it may- Shafts are provided for engagepass between the respective side rails and for placing the sheet to be displayed end to end.

The side rails have a connecting partition disposed therebetween in order that the display rack may be used with equal facility for displaying sheets upon either side of the same.

The assembly is trunnion supported with the trunnion wheels being recessed Within the base to maintain an extreme low center of gravity and to increase the appearance'of the assembly.

Cross rails are provided at the top and bottom of the side rails to tighten the same, and the top rail is fashioned to facilitate advertisement indicia being delineated thereupon.

The primary purpose and object of my invention is for the displaying of wall paper.

While my invention is primarily adapted for use in the displaying of wall paper, I do not wish to be limited in its application to wall paper display as it may be used with equal facility for the displaying of other sheet materials as woolen, linen, and silk fabrics.

Heretofore the displaying of wall paper has been accomplished primarily in rolls. This, where large displays or large stocks of wall paper are used necessitated a large expenditure of time to facilitate the customer making a selection of paper preferred. It also damaged the entire roll of paper. p

Through the use of my new and improved device, the entire wall paper display may be on exposition even in a small room to thereby enable the customer to make selections with a' minimum amount of his time and the salesmans. I

It also lessens the display spacerequired, and permits a frequent change in displays to keep the same fresh and in high quality, and also facilitates the customer making the final decision between the few samples. that he is interest- The rack is equally useful for the displaying of woolen goods and linings by tailorsiwhere the product is normally displayed in bolts. It is also equally useful in dress goods without the necessity of displaying the entire bolt, and for reconditioning the bolt after each display.

With these and'in'cidental objects in view, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combination of parts, the essential elements of which are set forth inthe appended claims, and a preferred form of embodiment of which is hereinafter shown with reference to the drawings which accompanying and form a part of this specification.

In the drawings:

Fig. I is a perspective side view of the display rack illustrating the same in use in the displaying of one sample paper and border that'is being displayed central of one side of the rack.

Fig. II is a front view of the assembled device.

- In this view the display is shown in its normal operation.

Fig. III is a perspective side view of one of the display samples shown removed from the rack.

Fig. IV is a perspective end view of one of the clamping heads. I

Fig. V is a sectional end view of the clamping head.

Like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views.

I form my device of vertical side rails I and 2. v The side rails are secured together by a top rail 3, a bottom rail 4, and. a transverse vertical partition 5. The side rails l and 2 are reinforced at I their bottom ends with bases 6 and I, and reinforcing plates 8 and 9.

The bases 6 and 1, and the reinforcing plates 8 and 9 are made relatively heavy in order that low center of gravity will develop.

I cut out the opposite ends of the respective bases 6 and 1 as illustrated at 10 and H and insert trunnion wheels [2 and I3 within the respective cut out portions of the bases, the cut out portion being of sufiicient depth to permit the bottom edges l4 and I5 of the bases 6 and 1 to just clear the supporting surface upon which the trunnion wheels run. This aids in the mobility 'of the rack, lowers the center of gravity, and makes the rack more portable and at the same time having "greater stability.

I provide a plurality of uniformly spaced in clined slots IS in theface of reach of the vertical rails and at either side of the transverse partition 5 in order that the rack may be usedfwith equal facility at both the front andth'e back,

A depression I1 is disposed at the bottom end of each of the slots I6.

I have illustrated my device as being utilized for making wall paper displays, but I do not wish to be limited in its application to this purpose only, as it is susceptible for being used with equal facility for the displaying of fabrics of woolen, cotton, silk, rayon, and other materials.

I provide a cross head bar l8. The cross'head bar I8 is longer than the width of the sheet I9 to be displayed and is suspended thereupon. The sheet I9 is lapped over the bar I8 as illustrated at 20, and where the sheet I9 is wall paper a sample of border 2I of the same width as the sheet I9 is also wrapped about the rod I8 as illustrated at 22, and a locking bar 23 is provided. The locking bar 23 is made preferably of relatively thin sheet metal.

The locking bar is folded upon itself as illustrated in Figs. IV and V so that one of the walls 24 is made straight and is tangent to the curved portion 25. The radius 26 of the curved portion is made so that when the sheet or sheets of material are wound about the rod I8 as illustrated in Fig. III, a clamping action will develop between the leg 24 and the leg 21. The legs of the head will be spaced apart at 26 sufficiently to effect a clamping action of the material upon the rod I8 and to securely maintain the material in fixed relation upon the rod I8.

It will be noted that the wall 24 is tangent to the curved portion ,25 and that the wall 2'! is parallel with the wall 24 and that the curved portion 25 is off-set as illustrated at 28.

In the use of the display the wall 24 is placed on the outside of the display. The rod I8 being longer than the width of the sheet I9 permits the outwardly extending portion of the rod beyond the sheet to enter into the respective slots l6 and to permit the edges 29 and 39 of the sheet I9 to precisely be placed in spaced relation with the inner walls 3I and 32 of the respective vertical rails I and 2.

In order that the assembly may be effected upon the respective rods I8 and 33, I outwardly extend the lips 34 and 35 at one of the walls at its outer ends to facilitate the threading and engagement of the sheets when disposed on the rods within the clamping head 23. A second clamping head 36 is placed upon the bottom edge of the sheet I9, and the rod 33 is of the same length or of a slightly lesser length than the sheet I9 and the tangent Wall 24 is also placed upon the outside of the sheet I9 to thereby produce an assembly display that will have a neat appearance.

In the application of the rack, I preferably display the same in the view as illustrated in Fig. II and when so displayed a neat appearance develops with a portion 31 of each of the samples being uniformly spaced, one above the other, but with the top one 38 illustrating not only the complete sample, but also the border strip 39 in its entirety, but it will be apparent that any one of the samples being displayed may be hinged upwardly about the supporting rod I8 to show the complete display of the sample shown immediately therebelow.

After the customer has seen a number of displays it will then be very easy as illustrated in Fig. I to place any desired sample 40 upon display central of the display rack in order that it may be viewed within the rack or be removed from the rack for display purposes, or to facilitate the customer seeing a number of these displays in adjacent racks at the same time.

I have found that very satisfactory results may be obtained where my racks are being used to provide the walls and the border of the paper upon one side and the ceiling for the same paper upon the back of the same display sheet I9. When so used, there would be two full views on sheet l9 placed upon the supporting rod I8 and the tensioning rod 33. Or where mens suiting is being displayed, the recommended lining for it could be also displayed with the same assembly.

Where my device is being used for the displaying of wall paper, a relatively large number of displays may be made upon racks that can be advantageously in a relatively small room or within a relatively small space.

The top rail 3 may have advertising indicia delineated thereupon and the bottom cross rail 4 may be used for the same purpose, and due to the mobility of the display racks both the front and the back of the rack may be used for displaying by simply rotating the rack from front to rear upon the trunnion wheels I2 and IS.

A display of this sort may be quickly changed with new styles or it may be maintained in fresh appearance by frequently changing the samples cut from rolls to thereby maintain the rolls in high usable appearance.

The display may be accomplished without undue loss of material, and without the disintegrating of the roll due to frequent handling and the unrolling of the end to display the same for frequent inspection.

Also the customers time may be greatly conserved as well as that of the merchant. The depression I'I disposed at the rear of each of the inclined slots I6 stabilizes'th'e sample within the rack and prevents its premature dislodging when the sample is raised for the inspection of the one disposed immediately therebelow.

While the form of mechanism herein shown and described is admirably adapted to fulfill the objects primarily stated, it is to be understood that it is not intended to confine the invention to the one embodiment herein shown and described, as it is susceptible of embodiment in various forms, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What I claim is:

1. In a device of the class described, the combination of a pair of rails spaced apart parallelly disposed relative to each other and the broad faces of the rails lying in parallel planes, a top and bottom rail for securing the side rails together and for maintaining the two in spaced relation with each other, a partition connecting the rails, both side rails and top and bottom rails, a base disposed at the bottom end of each of the side rails, pairs of inclined slots disposed on the inside surface of each of the side rails, and a rod for each pair of slots of a length to permit its being supported within the slots and being freely removed therefrom, and a locking bar made of a single piece of sheet material formed into a loop adapted for being fitted and for locking a sheet to the rod and said locking bar being shorter than the bar itself to facilitate the ends of the bar entering into the slots, and said locking bar having legs parallelly disposed to each other and one of said legs being outwardly curved adjacent its broad edge.

2. In a device of the class described comprismg in combination with a display rack, a pair of clamps made from spring sheet material with side rails, top and bottom cross rails, and a par-.

titioning sheet securing the respective rails together, a base disposed at the bottom end of each of the vertical rails, a plurality of inclined slots having depressions disposed at their inner ends disposed upon the inner face of each of the vertical rails and each slot and depression extendin partially through each of the rails, and at each side of the partition, a rod adapted for supporting materialto be displayed when the respective ends of the rod are placed within the depressions that are in registry within the side walls of the vertical rails and a second rod shorter than the other, and pairs of clamping heads for securing a sheet to the rods at its ends that is to be displayed upon the respective rods.

4. In a device of the class described, the combination of a rack having vertically disposed side rails that are connected together, a plurality of pairs of inclined slots having depressions disposed at the rear end of each of the slots disposed within the vertical side rails, with the slots extending only partially through the side rails, so that the inner wall surface of the slots will act as a stop for display rods disposed therein and to act as a stop to prevent endwise movement of the rods held within the slots, a. plurality of rods adapted for being freely moved and supported within one of the pairs of the inclined slots, and a plurality of second rods shorter than the rods supported in the slots, and a clamping head made of sheet material, said head being bent longitudinally between its ends to form two legs, one of the legs of which is tangent to the central portion,and

the other one of the legs being parallel to the first mentioned leg and spaced apart and adapted for securing a sheet at each of its ends to the rods.

5. In a device of the class described in combination with a display rack, said rack having a pair of vertical rails and each rail having a plurality of inclined slots disposed in spaced relation with each other, disposed upon the inner surface of each of the rails, a pair of cross bars for supporting material to be displayed, with one of the cross bars being longer than the other, and the longer one of the bars adapted for being supported within said inclined slots, and a locking bar made from a single piece and in cross section in the form of a U and said locking bar shaped to permit the rods being admitted longitudinally of the locking bar at the point of bend between its ends and the locking bar having spaced legs to permit a sheet to be supported upon the cross bar and for being clamped between the cross bar and the locking bar when the sheet is positioned about one of the cross bars and inserted within the locking bar.

6. In a device of the class described comprising in combination with a display rack for supporting the same, said rack having a pair of spaced vertical rails, rod supports disposed on the opposite faces of each of the rails, a plurality of pairs of round bars for supporting materials to be displayed there between, with one of said round bars being longer than theother, and the longer one of the bars adapted for being supported by the rod supports associated with each of the rails, and a locking bar made of sheet ma- 

